Pre-Game Capsule: Coyotes at Flames

GAME 28:
Coyotes (6-17-4) at Flames (13-10-1)
Arizona will face former goalie Mike Smith on Thursday night when it plays the first of four games vs. the Flames this season in Calgary.

WHERE: Scotiabank Saddledome
WHEN: 7 p.m. (AZ time)
TV: FOX Sports Arizona
RADIO:Arizona Sports Station 98.7 FM

KEY FACTS:
• The Coyotes have posted a 5-6-3 record in November and need one more win to extend their streak of winning at least six games in November to 12 straight seasons. The franchise has earned 126 wins in the month of November since it moved from Winnipeg to Arizona in 1996. That win total is the team's highest for any month.
• Scott Wedgewood will make his fourth consecutive start in goal for the Coyotes. Wedgewood stopped 24 of 27 shots vs. Edmonton on Tuesday in a 3-2 overtime loss. Marek Langhamer will again be Wedgewood's backup. Antti Raanta, who hasn't played since suffering an upper-body injury a week ago, did not join the Coyotes on this trip.
• Oliver Ekman-Larsson has scored a goal in three straight games, and has produced four goals and three assists during a season-high six-game point streak. Thanks to the point streak, Ekman-Larsson now ranks second on the team with 18 points, just three behind leader Clayton Keller. Ekman-Larsson needs one goal to tie Dave Ellett for second place on the franchise's list for goals by a defenseman. Ellett scored 95 for the Winnipeg Jets. Teppo Numminen ranks first on that list with 108.

• Niklas Hjalmarsson will not play because of an upper-body injury he suffered vs. Edmonton on Tuesday. Look for Joel Hanley to replace him in the lineup and not Andrew Campbell, whom the Coyotes recalled from the American Hockey League on Wednesday.
• Christian Dvorak has notched three goals and three assists in four career games vs. Calgary.
• The Flames are 6-6-0 on home ice and looking to rebound from a humbling 4-1 loss to Toronto at home on Tuesday. Mike Smith, who played 312 regular-season games and 16 playoff games for the Coyotes before being traded to Calgary last summer, is expected to start in goal for the Flames. Smith is 11-8-1 with a 2.67 goals-against average and a .921 save percentage. Johnny Gaudreau ranks first on the team with 34 points and 23 assists. Sean Monahan leads the Flames with 14 goals. Calgary has the 10th-best power play in the NHL at 21.4 percent, but its penalty kill ranks next to last at 74.4 percent.

COYOTE BITES:
• "I played with 'Smitty' for six years and it's going to be weird to have him on the other side. But at the same time we know that he's going to try to play every puck and we've got to be ready for that. We can use that in our favor, I think ... He obviously wants to win this game more than anybody so it's going to be a good challenge for us and a lot of fun to play against him." -- Oliver Ekman-Larsson
• "It's always fun going up against a former teammate, especially when he's a goalie. It will be strange to see him in a Flames uniform in person. I've only seen him in it on TV ... The past is the past and we have to move on from there, so we're going to do our best to score as many goals on him as we can. 'Smitty' is very competitive so it would be fun to beat him." -- Tobias Rieder
• "Winning builds any team's morale. We like what we've got in here. It's about time something's happened. It's moving now and we're comfortable, and we feel coming into any rink we can have a chance to win." -- Scott Wedgewood
• "I think they've got one of the best defense corps in the League. That's what good playoff teams have, right? In a seven-game series, if you're playing a team like that, with that kind of defense, it's hard to beat ... To me, their engine is their defense. That's what drives them and it's something that we've talked about." -- Rick Tocchet on Flames